by Ellen Harvey, Harness Racing Communications

East Rutherford, NJ — Ariana G (Yannick Gingras) came out of the clouds to win the $600,000 Breeders Crown for 2-year-old trotting fillies by 1-1/4 lengths on Saturday (Oct. 29) at The Meadowlands.

Araina G is owned and was bred by Marvin Katz and Al Libfeld and is trained by Jimmy Takter. For the daughter of Muscle Hill and Cantab It All, the win was her ninth in 11 starts. She has now banked $743.967.

USTA/Mark Hall photo

Ariana G was a 1:53.4 winner in the Breeders Crown 2-year-old filly trot.

Cameron Hill (Andy Miller) was first to the lead at the :27.4 quarter, but Treviso (Charlie Norris) was on the move on her outside to take over the lead momentarily before Thats All Moni (Tim Tetrick) took a turn on the lead and held it to the :56.1 half. She stayed in the top spot to the 1:25.1 three-quarters, with Sunshine Delight (John Campbell) right at her bridle on the outside.

Those two were trotting strong for the wire when Chezatter (David Miller) started to move on the leaders, but outside of her, Ariana G trotted down the middle of the track to pass them both about a sixteenth of a mile from the wire. Princess Aurora (Brian Sears) closed for second for the same connections as the winner and Sunshine Delight was third.

“Last week she got a little hot on me,” said winning driver Yannick Gingras. “But they went big fractions, so I was able to race her from behind, but last week she was really grabby and I really believe I choked her. Even at the top of the stretch, I still had a stranglehold of her and then two steps later I had two loose lines. I’m pretty sure she choked last week. The credit goes to Jimmy, he made equipment changes and obviously they worked tonight.

“I drew in a good spot, Chezatter was inside of me. She looked like she was going to move to the front early on and I was really content to follow her and obviously it worked out.”

“She raced good,” said Takter. “There was a little commotion in front of her, horses in and out; she raced well. It was her race to lose.

“I think it was necessary (the equipment changes). It’s a long year for her. This is her last for the year. We decided, she’s been racing since May, it’s a long year. It’s a great way to finish the year for her. I put the ear hood on her and opened her up a little so she could get a little more relaxed.

“Princess Aurora finished very, very good. She’s probably the horse that’s in the best form out of my horses right now. But by the same token she wasn’t in the early races like those other horses were in the season. She’s going to continue racing, going to the Goldsmith Maid up in Canada.”